celebrating obama & almonds

so so thrilled to wake up this morning to find out that Obama had won the US election. so awesome.. for America.. for the World.. and what a huge relief. 

here's a celebratory cupcake! 

these cupcakes are flour and sugar free. i have recently discovered ground almond as a replacement for flour. i am quite addicted to almonds (my current snack of choice) and anything almond related. i prefer a mix of flour and ground almond but i wanted to try completely flour-free which is higher maintenance. they are also sugar-free and therefore guilt-free! happy days in the free world!

almond cakes

1. preheat oven to 200C

2. beat 4 large egg yolks and 1 cup of honey

3. whisk the 4 egg whites until stiff peaks form and then gently fold them into the egg yolk mix

4. fold in 225g ground almonds and 1 tsp baking powder

5. spoon the mix in to cupcake cases and bake for 15mins

6. mix a tub of cream cheese with 2 tbsp honey (or to taste) and ice the cakes

autumn

so here are some shots to celebrate beautiful autumn. autumn makes me feel so happy inside... so warm and glowing. the colours and crisp cool air warmed by the sun, the beautiful sun rises and moon glowing in the morning. i want to roll in leaves, collect leaves, sit in front of a fire, make orange-coloured soups, bake bread and eat pumpkin pie.

pumpkins and wellies

 rolling in autumn leaves - tights ended up smeared with dog poo - yuk!

autumn trees

 autumn moon - showing itself every morning now

and the obvious one - a beautiful autumn leaf

These photos are linked in with The Gallery -
head over there to see other people's autumnal photography 

pumpkin seeds

when im tired and cold i want to eat and eat and eat. i eat my way through the day - perhaps to give me energy or warmth - perhaps for comfort - perhaps because i feel unmotivated to get on with any tasks. salted roasted pumpkin seeds are SO addictive i couldn't stop eating them. if you do nothing with leftover pumpkins from halloween, at least cook up the seeds.

separate out the pumpkin seeds and rinse them in a sieve to get rid of as much pulp as possible. 

pour a generous slosh of oil in to a roasting pan and put the clean seeds in the pan, sprinkle with plenty of salt and roast at 180C for 20 minutes or until nice and crispy. they can burn easily so keep an eye on them. 

here is my boy's pumpkin... which apparently has a cross face because he was cross with his little sister's pumpkin who kept hitting him.. processing reality through their pumpkins.

my daughter LOVED playing with the slimy pulp - squishing and swirling it and moving it in and out of the hollow pumpkin... a bit like Eyore with his burst balloon and the empty honey jar.

monday a doing day

its only been half term - just a week out of our normal routine - and i feel like i'm now drowning in admin, low energy, dirty house, laundry, sorting, filing, grocery shopping, meal planning and baking that needs doing... and here i am blogging! what am i doing? does anyone else ever feel guilty for blogging? that it's a waste of time and other things are suffering as a result. i do want to record my thoughts and memories of little stories about the kids. i also definitely need to record my recipes for myself... so i can find and replicate them. so i will continue for now and try to squeeze it in when i can.... or squeeze the other stuff in around IT?! 

here we are having an admin hour... or two... or was it only 20minutes it lasted? we all got something done.. me a meal plan and online grocery shop, Little Mr Z an entire dozen egg box painted and little Miss M 30 sheets of paper covered in paint.... very productive i'd say. 

silent sunday

halloween treats

Little Miss M and I made a batch of basic cupcakes - with 100g block of melted chocolate added in. i think she ate about three cupcakes worth of batter.

we then went to the corner shop and got some stringy sweets and mini marshmallows. when Little Mr Z got home from school we made halloween spiders by sticking the sweets in to the sides of the cupcakes for legs

covering them in melted chocolate [this avoided the problem of finding or making black icing. the kids are young enough not to mind too much if the spiders were brown instead of black]

and sticking the marshmallows on for eyes. i have to admit these were maybe a little too much chocolate and sugar - Mr Z was wired for hours, popping out of bed and dancing around the living room until 9:30pm(he normally passes out at 8pm).

while the kids were eating and covering themselves in chocolate, i melted marshmallows in a saucepan and used the goo to make ghost shapes on some of the cupcakes... these were very sticky!

i then ran out of halloween steam so finished off the last few cupcakes with a big dollop of melted chocolate and a marshmallow

after eating the chocolatey sugary spider cupcake, Z said he felt really sick. 15 minutes later he was hovering around me begging for more chocolate and marshmallows. i said "no i think you've had enough and remember you felt really sick?" He replied "but God has healed me so i don't feel sick any more!" i wanted to give him more for his canny answer.

now on to pumpkin carving...

books

these are the cooking with kids books that i have and i get lots from the library. Can anyone recommend any other really good ones? 

did anyone else read these books as a child? A Wrinkle in Time, Moomins, Hannibal, Narnia, The Hobbit.

my mother is amazing at keeping things - so we get lovely retro hand-me-down clothes, shoes, wellies and toys. and the occasional box of books passed our way from our old bedrooms. here is a selection of my old books. Madeleine L'Engle was my favourite author with Lucy Maude Montgomery coming a close second. I even wrote my own novel which was basically a re-write of Anne of Green Gables - the characters just had different names. Who was your favourite childhood author?

i have just read this book and loved it. every woman should read this - if only for a good laugh and some impressive writing. anyone else like it?

this post is linked up with The Gallery, where others have posted on the theme of Books also

desperate

so i'm on the next level of my detox - slightly less strict but none of the good stuff (caffeine, sugar, dried fruit, honey, wheat) - and today i felt desperate for something delicious. Sam had also been scouring the cupboards last night for some sort of muffin or cake or something yummy. so the kids came home from school and i felt like quickly throwing something in the oven for them... and for ME... and for Sam later. so i decided to try to make up a recipe that didnt take me toooo far off my detox. but i really needed a treat! it was so delicious i could eat a whole loaf! Sam & the kids loved it and it kept well and tasted good the next day. it has no sugar and very little wheat. we'll call it apple carrot almond loaf.

preheat the oven to 180C

combine in a big bowl:

1 cup ground almonds

1 cup wholegrain spelt four (or whatever flour you have in the cupboard)

1 tsp bicarb of soda

1 tsp baking powder

stir together in another bowl:

1 egg (gently whisked)

1 apple (grated)

1 carrot (grated)

1/4 cup agave syrup (or honey)

100g butter (melted)

gently mix the wet ingredients in to the dry ingredients and pour the mix in to a small greased loaf tin. sprinkle pumpkin seeds on top of the loaf.

Bake for 30mins.

the illusion of the butt-crack

so the bane of my life is low-cut jeans. i love them and i wear them but having become a mum i am permanently bending over - and generally with my arms full, a child crying, another child trying to escape my grasp and some combination of poo, wee, snot or vomit covering me or a child... and we're in central london... running late for a very important engagement... outside a fancy hotel that we have just hurtled in and out of to grab some napkins for the aforementioned bodily fluid disaster. now is not the time for me to be worrying about my trousers sliding down my back and my bum and knickers showing. i am painfully aware that i'm on full display but i can not possibly move or free up a hand to heave my trousers up & over my love handles. this also seems to happen when i am at the front of church or at a new toddler group... or at a kids party where i don't know anyone. 

sometimes when my trousers ride down i get the happy feeling that 'oh my trousers feel loose i must have lost some weight' and then i realise that this is an evil illusion and that in fact i bought them yesterday from Primark and they have already lost all shape and ability to stay on my body - going from tight and sexy to baggy and bum-showing within 6 hours of wearing. why do i fall for it every time?

here's a dangerously easy recipe that will help to refill those now baggy trousers

flapjack heaven


1. preheat oven to 180C ans line a small baking dish with parchment paper
2. in a saucepan melt 200g of butter with 100ml golden syrup

3. measure out 350g of oats and a pinch of salt
4. pour the butter & syrup over the oats and stir well

4a. optional - add any extra bits (i like chopped apricots & almonds, pumpkin and sunflower seeds) and 3 extra large tablespoons golden syrup to hold the bits in

5. pat the mixture down in to the baking dish
6. bake for 30 mins and then allow to cool before cutting in to squares
7. see if you can eat less than three in quick succession

starting school

when Little Mr Z started "big school", he got oodles of attention, photographs taken, lunch box made up. we had had a lovely summer as a family and now Daddy was off to work and big brother was off to what looked like a very exciting classroom, in new clothes and carrying an exciting lunch box. i stupidly arranged a play date with a new friend not realising the devastation that M would be feeling from her two beloved boys leaving her behind, at home, with no lunch box... she was a complete wreck. when our guests awkwardly left early because of M's state, i sat on the bottom step and sobbed. this stopped M from her face-down screaming & sobbing on the door mat. she walked to me and we hugged and we talked and we realised we were both missing Daddy and Z and it was quite an adjustment. when she collapsed screaming at the school gate because Z wouldn't let her carry his lunch box i realised it was time for a lunch box for her. i found a lunchbox at home and the next morning Z & M both got a special packed lunch and we took photos of BOTH of them outside the front door. Little Miss M carried her lunch box around ALL day for a week and was so pleased with it and comforted by it's presence.


here's a great hearty curry for kids to fill them up after a big day at school

serves 4 - you can spice it up for the grown-ups

1. saute an onion and a red pepper for 2 mins

2. add 2 diced chicken breasts and stir until chicken is white

3. add 1/2 tsp curry powder, pinch turmeric, pinch coriander, 1 tbsp honey and stir for a few mins

4. stir in a handful of chopped green beans

5. add 1 tin coconut milk and 1 tin chick peas and simmer for 3 mins

6. add salt & pepper to taste

7. serve on rice